Alessandra Simões Paiva, from São Paulo, Brazil, received the diploma that certifies her as the winner of the second annual AICA Incentive Prize for Young Critics, during the 45th International AICA Congress, conducted at the University of Zurich, from the 9th to 14th, July, 2012.

The event honored essays on the 6th Biennial of Curitiba and the 8th Mercosul Biennial (Porto Alegre), both developed in Brazil between September and November, 2011. The prize consisted on the participation, with all expenses paid, in the Congress, where Alejandra Simões gave her   presentation. She also participated in the post-conference in Kassel, and has been invited to visit the next Biennale of Curitiba, in 2013, courtesy of the Paranaense Art Institute.

Alessandra Simões is a journalist and an author of stories, articles and criticisms on art, architecture and design. She holds a Masters in Aesthetics and Art History degree from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Presently, she works on her doctorate in urban art at the Latin American Program (PROLAM) of USP. She is a member of ABCA (Brazilian Art Critics Association). Other finalists (all from Brazil) include Gabriele Borges Abraços (São Paulo), Raphael Fonseca (Rio de Janeiro), Camila Gonzatto (Rio Grande do Sul) and Fernanda Yumi Kohatsu Feliciano (Curitiba). All essays by the finalists, and biographies, are posted on the AICA website: http://www.aica-int.org/spip.php?rubrique438

The members of the jury were Tineke Reijnders (AICA Netherlands, Chair), Franck Hermann Ekra (Open Section), Yacouba Konaté (Open Section), Henry Meyric Hughes (AICA United Kingdom), Myrna Rodriguez (AICA Puerto Rico) and Irini Savvani (AICA Greece). They were assisted by Adriana Almada (President of AICA Paraguay) and Lisbeth Rebollo Gonçalves (President of AICA Brazil). The jury stressed the high level of all entries, as well as the importance and uniqueness of this Award, which has been generating a growing interest among young critics around the world.

The AICA Incentive Prize for Young Critics was launched in 2010 to promote innovative writings on art by critics under 40 years old who reside in different parts of the world. (Franck Hermann Ekra from Abidjan/Paris was the recipient of the inaugural Prize, which was presented to him during the AICA Annual Congress in Asuncion, Paraguay in October 2011.) This year’s Prize will be presented during AICA’s Congress in Zürich, Switzerland, scheduled for 9 to 13 July 2012. Alessandra Simões will collect her Prize in person, and she will present a paper during the symposium organized for the Congress. She has been also invited to participate in the Post-Congress visit to Documenta (13) in Kassel, from 14-16 July 2012; and to visit -courtesy of the lnstituto Paranaense de Arte- the Biennial of Curitiba in 2013 in order to review it.

AICA is currently preparing the third edition of the prize (AICA Incentive Prize for Young Critics 2012). Details about participating in the competition will be announced at the 45th AICA Congress in Zürich and posted on AICA’s website: www.aica-int.org. For further information about AICA and enquiries about the Prize, please write to Anne-Claude Morice, AICA international office: aica.office@gmail.com

University of Zurich, 13.07.12. Adriana Almada, president of AICA Fellowship Fund Commission, presented the winner of AICA’s Incentive Prize for Young Critics 2012, Alessandra Simões Paiva, and handed her the diploma. Marek Bartelik up the table and Brane Kovic, president and general secretary of AICA International, respectively. In the brief ceremony Simões Paiva received and appreciated the distinction, and Lisbeth Rebollo Gonçalves, President of the Brazilian Association of Art Critics exposes the Award importance. (Photos: courtesy of Marie-Pascale Gildemyn)